US Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was reportedly shot in the head at close range while hosting an event in Tuscon, Arizona. Several other members of her staff were also reportedly hurt by the gunman, who is now in custody.
There is no word on Rep. Giffords' condition as of yet. Though the shooting occurred at a constituent event, there is no report on the gunman's motives, or whether Giffords was targeted.
I'll update this post as more information comes out. Please keep Rep. Giffords and all those injured in your thoughts.
UPDATE: Earlier reports had said Rep. Giffords had died, but the latest news is that she is currently in surgery but still alive.
UPDATE #2: MSNBC reports that Federal District Judge John M. Roll is among the dead.
Already people are posting about the shooter's politics on Web sites, blogs, etc., and yet no one knows very much about what his views really are or whether they had anything to do with what he did. I find it disturbing that every time there is one of these outrageous events, people with agendas rush to assert how the event either proves their point or had nothing to do with their cause, without having any real understanding of the facts. It is an important, if regrettable, marker of our times.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It's a bit much.
ReplyDeleteI think the shooter's politics are irrelevant to the point I'd like to push, which is that it's in extremely poor taste to use metaphors of "hit lists," "targets," "in our sights," etc. about public servants who genuinely do receive death threats and are at risk of being killed (whether by apolitical lunatics like John Hinckley or highly political ones like John Booth).
ReplyDeleteJudges, in particular, come under frequent attack; Roll had personal security for a while recently because he was overseeing a controversial case in which illegal immigrants sued a Minuteman-type property owner for allegedly imprisoning them after they trespassed. He may well have been just collateral damage, in the wrong place at the wrong time, but judges still deserve better than political rhetoric about how the only way to get rid of someone with lifetime tenure is to take him out.
I agree with PG's point and, for that matter, Troll cd2's point.
ReplyDeleteGiven the information so far available about the alleged shooter, his views, if they have anything to do with what he did, will not readily be classified. He was, in high school, on the extreme left but, evidently, holds some views that people on the extreme right hold dear. His favorite reads, if he is to be believed, include Marx & Engels but also Hitler. The love of Hitler's rants may explain - if the motive was political - his choice of a Jewish congresswoman or, then again, it may have nothing to do with it. He may, however, just be a nut case.
His politics seem to be a mixed bag. One the one hand, his favorite books lean lib, and the friends who knew him say he leaned lib. But his ramblings are just a tick removed from The Glenn Beck Show....
ReplyDeleteSo I would say it's a wash if you really want to take stock.
That said, I am completely disgusted by the behavior on both sides of the isle. They are sick and badly need to re-examine the values each side claims to have.
I posted a couple of things on FB, to try and calm people down, and got the F-bomb thrown in my face. I blogged about it, but I don't think I'll cover it again, except to keep track of Gifford's recovery.
Have their been some bright spots? Yes. Obama and Boehner have handled this with class, but the rest????
And tomorrow, it’s only going to get worse, as the talk radio flame war cycle is set to explode…. I’m just so disappointed by it all.
I’ve never been more glad not to be a part of either ruling party.
PS. Dave, I'm glad you didn't take this in the direction so many have. Thanks for being different.